snap, pop, crackle, burn
by Mirror Of Words
Summary: Exchanged smiles, held hands, loving glances, it's all that's really needed to break a person. Not all things are as they seem to be. —Yancy/Curtis/Rosa?, one-shot.


A/N: the most horrible thing I have ever written. But this is the only thing I can submit. I actually wrote something I'm happy with, but it cut off abruptly and unless I get that in time somehow I'm doomed.

Btw this one's for the **It's Always The Cute Ones Competition in the Pokemon Fanfiction Challenges Forum!** It goes like this: **write a cute/innocent chara's more darker/evil side**. I don't think I stuck to this and I flunked it bad.

(leaving a bad impression on viewers before they even begin to read, that's me)

Enjoy! Thanks to **MizuneMinamiki** for revising the story with me at a last note and sharing opinions. *huggles*

warnings, mental instability, violence, eye bleeding levels of radioactivity, all that good stuff. Hints of self harm, trigger warning. I'd say this borders a T+.

* * *

Nails scrape the walls lightly like a knife traveling down bare skin in a prick-prick-prickly manner, and lips are pressed against the cold, lifeless barrier, shifting against them and forming invisible words that pierce through the confining walls as if they were all but thin cloth.

Hands move against it as if reaching out for something at the other side, desperately grasping at something that isn't quite in her reach. Sweat trickles down her face and onto the cold floor she kneels on as she presses herself wholly against the wall. Nails trailing down the wall create a little scrape sound, and soon erupt into red as they claw down the wall with utmost desperation and yearning.

"..._mine_." The invisible words are spoken by the fragments of the stifling air picking up her ragged pleading, raw desperation in its finest. "_My dear, my_ dearest... _You will... be _mine."

"_You will... be... mine..._"

...

"Yancy?"

A hand's being waved in front of her face and she snaps out of her little boredom-fueled daydream, meeting round eyes with hues of green staring at her curiously.

"O-Oh, Curtis!" She comes to a sudden realisation and blurts, bringing a hand up to her lips in an embarrassed manner. Her partner steps back with a short laugh, but the concern in his eyes has not for one moment died down. He combs his hair back in a freestyle manner with his hands, noticably sizing the young woman up.

"You alright?" he asks as she stands up and dusts her fancy show-dress in an attempt to deflect her embarrassment. "You've been kind of ditzy these few days."

"Am I always not?" she jokes, smiling mischievously, and he laughs good-heartedly.

"Good one," he points out, but soon reverts to a more serious position. "So, tell me. Is anything the matter? Has everything been going on alright?"

"Yeah, j-just a little stress, that's all," she laughs half-heartedly, fiddling with her sleeves distractedly, averting her attention from his worry-filled eyes and warmth-overflowing smile. She couldn't have that. "A little sleep'll fix that nicely." She beams at him.

"That's great, then," he says, and she notices he's distracted with glancing at his PokéTech numerous times. She makes an offhand joke of him rushing for a train, and he laughs back, except his answer sends her mood straight down to the lowest pit of Hell.

"I'm gonna meet Rosa today. It's a date! Don't tell her that, though, haha."

"I see." Her tone is nothing short of absolute spite. "I hope you have all the fun you need."

"Yancy?" He waves his hands comically and gives her a pat on her shoulder she shrugs off furiously. "H-Hey, you alright? Y-You might wanna ask for an early leave today? You don't look all that good... And, your fingers!" He's a heap of fluster now. "Are they alright? They look like they hurt..."

"Oh, I'm fine," she returns him a smile reserved for their shows - _charming and undeniably fake _- and turns around so she doesn't have to face him, so she can hide the utter jealously and rage threatening to boil up at the thought of him and Rosa, Rosa and him. "Maybe you should get an early break, y'know, don't wanna miss the date you and Rosa dear's got."

...

She makes sure she has her pedestrian garment on once more - everyone shoots her odd looks either way, why does she bother much of her appearance? Being a showgirl isn't all that simple - and ducks her head out from the bushes, catching sight of the girl standing by the ferris wheel entry.

_That's Rosa, for sure, _she thinks with a smile to herself, _no, Rosa,_ dear. Her hair is tied back into two buns as usual, and her garments scream nothing short of adorable. She's looking around, patient enough to only glance at her watch once despite standing there for a whole half-hour, awaiting none other than her soon-to-be - or, already - Prince Charming Curtis to come by and whisk her away to the tippy-top of the ferris wheel.

Curtis' a little held back by work today, though. Maybe she should give the girl with such a charming smile a little greeting before having the boy come along. Lead her away elsewhere to enjoy her for herself...

"Rosa! Didja' wait too long?"

"Oh, Curtis!" The girl turns and welcomes the boy running along her direction, waving wildly with a clumsy grin upon his face. He has his pedestrian garments on, too, obviously due to not wanting to attract much attention. She knots her eyebrows together in a frustrated little bout, envy and hate barely spilling off the edges of the cauldron.

_Curtis..._

They smile together, a symphony of sugar, spice and everything nice to brew a lovely couple. They converse for a few moments, then, hand in hand - Yancy finds herself wanting to run up to them and scream at them - they walk towards the Ferris wheel, and soon enough they're carted off into the sky together, much to her utter distaste.

And she stares at the bottom as a tiny insignificant spectator of their brewing love, everything a mess of envy and hatred.

_You... will be mine, someday... enjoy your time together, as it lasts..._

_..._

A knife held brashly by hand is run into the wall, anger driving it through _over and over and over again_, bits of paint and cement and whatever wall filling is of shattering and scattering into a heap of waste.

_"You're mine,_" she says, her voice like sandpaper, "_you're mine, you're mine, you're mine you're mine you're _mine..."

...

"Earth to Yancy? Or is it better off I call you Nancy."

_"True love will prevail, Curtis. I may not be anyone of significance, but _mark my words _I will achieve what I am ultimately meant to achieve.._."

"...huh? Y-Yancy, are you seriously fine? You're kinda freaking me out... I can take you to the medic, if you want to..."

_"... Oh,_ Curtis! I'm fine, it's all fine. Tee hee... It's all fine... Just fine... _Just a show I watched.._. Tee, hee..."

"Y... Yancy?"

...

Rosa is alone today.

She's walking by the Nimbasa ferris wheel, pacing back and forth, back and forth, sighing to herself in what must be melancholy. Curtis didn't mention a meet-up with Rosa, so this must be Rosa harboring wishful thoughts to herself.

Chance.

She steps forward, yet again murmurs and "_isn't she familiar_?" rising from the others. The girl she's aiming for is quite perceptive; within moments she notices her presence, aqua glazing across cerulean hues, and greets her with a warm smile, despite obviously having not a clue of who she is.

"Care for a ride with me?" she proposes before the girl with mahogany strands bellowing manages a question. The girl harbors a thoughtful expression for a moment before giving her another smile.

"Are you a trainer? Did you want a battle?"

A thorn lodges itself firmly into her; the girl hasn't even an idea who she is, what sort of relationship she has with dear Curtis. "Oh, no," she manages, still, with a forceful smile, suppressing emotions of negativity. "No Pokémon in my possession. I'd just like a ride, Rosa, _dear_."

The girl gives her a strange look. "I didn't tell you my name, did I...?"

"Oh, you're quite popular around these parts," a showtime-giggle (_undeniably fake) _emerges from her lips, and Rosa's stance relaxes noticeably. "I'd just like a ride with you, please, if that's not too much to ask of..."

"Oh, of course that's not a problem," Rosa smiles, completely warmed up to her; Yancy barely manages the slightest of smirks tugging at the corners of her lips. "Shall we get on now?"

"Of course."

The cart descends and they step onto it once the previous riders disembark; it doesn't take long before they're suspended into the skies. It's lovely, really, the world right under your feet and you being able to see every inch of it right there at the not-quite-far distance. Now that she thinks of it, she hasn't quite rode a ferris wheel before...

_How fitting it is to ride one with Rosa, dear, now,_ she thinks with a smile. And it's her first time, too. _Charming_.

"So," Rosa speaks, and Yancy turns to her with a none-too persistent smile and the slightest of red dusting her cheeks; Rosa's stance is relaxed as if they've been the best of friends for centuries, and her wide grin is something she finds to make one stumble. "Do I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"Do you, now?" She smiles thoughtfully, tipping her hat downwards just the slightest position, a shadow descending upon her face and illuminating sea-trench eyes, "I believe it is quite fitting, as of this moment... Don't you think so too, Rosa, dear?"

...

Prints of red are scattered across the shattered wall, stretched down with trails of red slipping down like teardrops of a devil in agony. She's smiling, but it's a smile none too full of joy.

Only pain will eradicate more pain.

A quick run-over of the moonlight-reflecting blade and new buds of red begin to bloom; the sting of pain spreading throughout her senses fill her with an abnormal sense of warmth and empty love.

She did it, but did she really receive the outcome she truly desired for? Did she really expect things to turn out the way she wanted it to?

_Dearie_, life isn't one of those dramas you act for, where everything turns out all but perfect in the very, very end. Life is full of miscellaneous bad endings and tragedies people die for. What on Earth were you expecting? You of all people should know best...

_It's not enough, it's not enough, not enough..._

Red scatters onto the ground like a rose yet to live out its life descending onto the cold ground and having its petals scatter into oblivion.

...

"Remember, cast, this time's a live telecast. Put on your brightest smiles and be ready to improvise at impulse, because if you screw something up I'll screw you over."

"Gee, director, _wayyy_ to be scary with your unintentional innuendo-ness," Curtis jokes to himself, laughing. He turns to his partner, curling her eyelashes in front of her mirror in an almost frantic manner. "Yancy, c'mon you gotta rush, ehh? And don't screw things up, remember? Or the director's gonna - pfft..."

"Y-Yeah!" Yancy cries out, busily applying various cosmetics to be in tip-top condition for the cameras. "Gee, why now, of all moments..."

"I know, right?" he grins. "Oh, yeah, that reminds me. Guess what? Rosa's gonna get to meet you today!"

Yancy flinches, but masks away her astonishment like a skilled actress would.

"...oh? How?"

"Live telecast, remember?" She notices him wagging his eyebrows from the mirror. "I've pointed out she'd get to see you. She'll definitely recognise you, with your pink hair. Ha. The whoooole world's seeing this gig, too! Next thing you know we'll be featured in Kalos' news about how awesome we are... Ooh, will Rosa be happy or what..."

"...is that so..."

"Hmm? You're seeming a little off, Yancy." Curtis pointed out in his joking manner. "Don't get so nervous, heh. I mean, even I'm getting the heebie-jeebies, but no-one sees me complaining, right? Riiiiight?"

Done with the finest touches - _an actress must always be presented with utmost perfection, through fire and water _- she turns to her partner and smiles. "Of course! I'll be looking forward to having Rosa dear see the spectacular act just for her."

Before he manages to question her acts, she heads on to set, smiling to herself, a smile she's not sure if she's just putting on for show or if it's really one from heart.

...

_"Rosa, dear."_

_"Hmm? Yancy, um, don't call me dear, heheh, it really makes me shy."_

_"Oh, but you are quite a dear. Curtis says so much about you. And I've seen enough to determine as much, too..."_

_"...oh? You know Curtis - ohhh, so you're his partner he always talks about! I didn't know that! I'm so stupid, ahaha..."_

_"It's nothing. It's adorable, if anything... Anyhow... I... I need to tell you something important. It's why I've seeked you out, at this time."_

_"Oh? And what is it? It's that serious? Does it have to do with Curtis - did something happen to him?"_

_"..."_

_"...Uh, Yancy...?"_

_"...it's always about Curtis, isn't it, Rosa... It's always about him... _Curtis, Curtis, Curtis_... Why not we talk about you... or me? Or even better..."_

_"Y-Yancy...? What're you - "_

...

The girl huddles in her room by the side of her bed, her blankets draped around her shaking form, ever-so fragile as if a untainted porcelain doll doused in a wok of ink. She's shaking, and the slightest form of a tear slips down her cheek as she fails to hold in her little choked sob, clutching her Pokéballs closer to her chest. She can almost feel her Pokémon worrying for her, but they know as much not to intervene if she wills them not to, despite their barrage of objections.

_"_Helloooo Unovaaaaa!_"_

_"This is Christopher, here!"_

_"And this is Nancy! Hee, hee!"_

She flinches ever the slightest bit, and the first sound other than her sobs of fear escape her lips.

"C... Curtis..."

_"This is a veeeery special show going on right now, as it's being broadcasted across Unova, and in selected regions! Isn't that great, Nancy?"_

_"Why, it is very, Christopher! And we all know this calls for a very, very special announcement, now don't we?"_

The girl can make out his faltering from the times she's spent with the actor, but he masks it well, just as Yancy manages her flickering emotions._ "Oh? Why, yes, Unova, a very special announcement Nancy here has for the rest of you! Now, why don't you share with us this announcement, Nancy!"_

_"Very gladly, Christopher!..."_

...

"Now, then," Nancy smiles to the camera, to the whole of Unova and a few selected regions; she cannot chance messing this up, or else everything up till now will be in vain. "This here's an announcement just from yours truly! Are you ready?"

"I'm sure we all are, Nancy," Curtis laughs jokingly, but she can see the confusion in the cheerful glances he sends her way. Nancy gives him and the rest of the audience another winning smile, but inside Yancy sneers of what events are waiting to unfurl.

"This here's to someone who's very, very special to me, and hey, she's watching this right now." Nancy says in her showtime-tone, and Yancy's hand slips into her sleeve as she feels the hilt cold and welcoming, urging her to act. "Rosa, are you listening? That's right, this one's for you!"

The confusion upon Curtis' face can't be obscured by the steady mask of Christopher, but he plays it off as part of the show. He's not fooling anyone.

_"Rosa. I need to tell you this. You need to know."_

The façade of Nancy slips away, and gradually gives way to Yancy, who breaks her steady mask like glass upon a rock-solid surface, and before anything else manages to progress, red showers her like water spewed out of a fountain.

The strangled cry of Curtis fills the air and there are screams, but all are but dull backdrops to her on the stage showcasing her final act. Yancy smiles, drawing her knife from Curtis' chest and sending him to the ground, cerulean eyes locking onto the running camera - the little red orb of light mocks her defiantly. She knows the one she loves is in front of a screen, one of many spectators to this grueling climax. She knows her gaze pierces that of Rosa's.

"Rosa. I love you. You're aware of that, aren't you? From our previous rendezvous." Her confession comes out in a hushed tone, as if a secret being told to her and her alone. Lips pursed and a pointer finger flicked out as if trying to prove a point, yet in a playful, Nancy-like manner.

_"Rosa, I love you! Why do you refuse to accept me! And yet you have room in your heart for Curtis!?"_

_"Yancy, t-the knife - ahh! Please, no, just - just stop! I-I won't - I _can't_ - "_

"I thought we could resolve things that day. But..." Her smile contorts into a twisted one, fueled with envy and love and satisfaction and rage. "Guess not. It had to come to this, didn't it? Oh, well. You know how things are in these drama series. It ought to come here soon enough. Better sooner than later, better later than never."

"And now it's done, there's no more obstruction for our love! Isn't that great!" She breaks out into a full grin, filled with warmth at the thought of Curtis, that man reduced to a shivering bag of bones and flesh upon the ground, is finally away from interfering with her and Rosa. "I must say, this is quite the happy ending, isn't it, Rosa?"

...

In a small town in Unova, in an old house a young girl and her mother live in, a girl is screaming. She's huddled by her bed, in front of the television. She wants so badly to run, to run and cry and scream due to the events unfolding on the screen - it's not real, not real, _not real not real not real not real _- but she can't. It's almost like a drama hooking her, gluing her to her screen. She cannot move; she is paralyzed with fear. All she can see is Yancy smiling at her, her cerulean gaze carrying floundering emotions towards her, her cruel gaze piercing into her very core.

"_I must say, this is quite the happy ending, isn't it, Rosa?"_ She says with her ever-so corrupted smile, and each word seeps into her as if she's whispering the most dreaded secret into her ear. _"We're _fi-nal-ly_ free to be together. It's the perfect conclusion to this long-winded tale of hurt and true love. Isn't that right, _Unovaaaaa_?"_

_No... No..._

There's only one more smile that digs deep to her and words that embed themselves so deeply into her before the everything cuts out to an endless black.

"And that's a wrap, people!"

* * *

A/N: there's honestly a better way to end this. I'm still thinking through it.

Did it satisfy? A review with your thoughts is gladly appreciated. As always, criticism is much needed and welcomed.

Addition. Basically the thing was to get people to think Yancy's yearning for Curtis, when in reality it's Rosa. (I'd much like to meet Yancy in the game over Curtis. Maybe.) There are itty bits of hints around the place but i guess it wasn't very well explored, was it...

Will make further adjustments Later. Thanks for reading!


End file.
